The Original Gap Khakis

Khaki Pants

As I was taking off my favorite pair of khaki pants Monday evening I realized just how thin the threads were along the seat. And then I almost teared up thinking I might have to retire them soon. I dare count back exactly, but I purchased my Gap khakis at least 12 years ago. I remember well that I found the pants on sale at the end of the season for under ten dollars. I first bought one pair and then walked into a few other stores before returning and buying the same pants in three more shades. I bought the pants during a trip home to Texas, and when I showed my mom the bargain finds she was outright worried my funky fashion sense was deteriorating in buttoned down Washington, D.C. Probably a little too true.

The day I walked into the store I was just so happy I could still sneak (very snuggly) into the size two pants. Applause to Gap for making a girl feel good at a time when my long work hours, fast food habit, and drinking nights out with girlfriends left me with some extra pounds.

But with my trusty khakis by my side I soon fell full into my happily ever. The next year the pants no longer crinkled around my bum and thighs and instead began to lightly brush the ground and fray the end seam with each step. Proof that I had shed some excess pounds…and excess stress.

I would give a little ceremonial kiss to them every year as fall turned to winter and all were retired to the top shelf for a few months before I rushed to grab them on the first spring like day of the next year.

When I slipped on my khakis for the first time in 2011 they were so loose I could almost pull them down my hips without unbuttoning. My daughter had been born a few months prior and I remember it being that first light bulb of acknowledging post partum depression in myself. Between caring for my daughter around the clock, breast feeding, running my business, and sweating away a few too many calories without great nutrition I was worn too thin is so many ways.

I vowed to myself that day to get my pants back to that happily ever when they would just brush the ground enough to sometimes catch between my flip flop and my foot.

That happily just smartly frayed place happened on Monday. And so today I celebrated with my favorite kind of self-care splurge, a bargain hunting shopping trip. My mom will be proud as I replaced my well worn, boring khakis with a pair of funky pants that will surely only be fashionable for a single season.